Witness says UWI belittled Bain

THE PROFESSOR Brendan Bain, University of the West Indies (UWI) court case continued yesterday with one witness testifying that he believes that the university belittled him (Bain) and failed to show respect when it fired the noted public-health professional.

Professor of cardiovascular research at the Chronic Disease Research Centre at the UWI Cave Hill campus, Robert Clive Landis, further testified that a statement issued by the university announcing Professor Bain's termination cast a shadow over his contribution in the field of HIV.

Professor Landis said in his 11 years at the UWI, he had never seen a statement being issued in relation to the termination of any staff member.

He said when the statement was circulated, it immediately conveyed that Professor Bain had done something wrong.

Professor Landis also testified that the expert report that Professor Bain gave to the Belizean court in a case brought by a gay man was not arguing for the retention of the buggery law in that country.

He said Professor Bain's testimony was quite cryptic and was asking for HIV to be looked at in its entirety.

Meanwhile, the third witness to take to the stand was Consultant Urologist Dr William Aiken.

He said when he read a newspaper report about Professor Bain being fired by the UWI, his first reaction was that something had gone wrong.

Something unethical

Aiken said he got the impression that something unethical was done to cause Professor Bain's termination.

According to him, the university must have had serious reasons to terminate Bain's contract.

Professor Bain is suing the UWI for breach of contract, breach of constitutional rights and defamation over its decision to terminate his contract as director of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS Training Network (CHART).

The UWI fired Professor Bain last May after alleging that his constituents had lost confidence in him.